Jim's REI Journey

Hi my name is James Cook and this is my journal of how I got started in REI, and my hope is to give back what i learn and experience by sharing it here with all of you.
I was going through divorce, not sleeping, and praying for something to change when i saw deans infomercial late one night. I was captivated by the possibility of what if it is real and could it be more than just another scam to involve myself with. I made a great decision to get the books he was offering with the last bit of money i had. I received them and I started reading and got so inspired to do REI I wanted it right then. So i contacted the success academy and now i'm a millionaire. NOT. I found out what they wanted for me to get started and because i was flat broke i could not start then. They offered me a way to get started and i just could not come up with that little bit that it took to do it. I was once again smashed in my poverty,but I did not give up on it. I put that book on my shelf where i saw deans face every day for the next year and three months. Dean sent me e-mails every week with his blog and i would sometimes take the time to view them. As the time passed i started looking at the different links on the site and followed them to other members journals. I began following some of them realizing the wealth of information i could get by seeing how they got started and and what they accomplished. It was amazing. Then one day i got an invitation to go to a local seminar put on by members of deans team so I decided to go, made the commitment to be there,and invited my girlfriend and her parents to go with me. They agreed to humor me and go with me. At that seminar we were shown the tax lien strategy course and decided to get it for a start. Then we were shown the profit from real estate course and made a GREAT decision to get that to go along with it. It came with a three day workshop called the insiders edge. We went over the two courses learning a wealth of information that we saw potential in. We then went to the workshop and learned so many options that we began taking action on. At that point we were given another opportunity to get into a mentoring program but once again disappointment set in because of the lack of funds to do it. So we went home and took action on all that we learned and we put together our team and began searching for deals. We found a group of investors got there criteria and searched for deals to fit them. This team consists of all the key players. Choosing Mentors was a great step and ill come back to that in a little while. The Realtor was huge for us. I surfed the web for Realtors and found one that was a stroke of luck for us.It turns out that he was a mortgage broker first and then became a realtor. He was very like minded with us and we laid out our program to him. He is willing to invest his time on our beginning knowing where we are going and how valuable we will become to him as we progress. Title Company. I started calling banks to get lists of there REO's, and one of them suggested checking with the title companies. Again i got lucky and the first one i called. They gave me a list of there preforeclosures and were wiling to do this to earn my business. I found them to be very friendly and willing to work with me. The Real estate lawyer was yet another blessing. We found him as i was looking through a list of them i got from my yahoo search bar. After calling several of them i found one with many years of local experience. He set up our s corp for $1050.00 and is on board with doing our closings and all of our document needs. The CPA. This was found the same way on Yahoo search. We talked to many of them On the phone and decided to meet with some of them. The one we chose is at a fair sized firm,and the staff there was very friendly and willing to answer my questions. We met with the CPA and explained our situation to him in depth. He was very nice, knowledgeable, and willing to work with us. Once again the luck was with us as our Realtor has a partner that is an Appraiser and Contractor although I have an intense background in many forms of construction and maintenance so i do have many contacts for a host of contractors. The Banker was an easy decision as i already do my banking at a local credit union that offers many business help aspects. The Insurance company was also an easy choice as i have many vehicles insured through them and they do offer all of the insurance for doing this business that i am aware of to this point. As I mentioned earlier i would come back to the issue of the Mentor. Here is where i am at with that. I decided my Realtor is successful and our mentors must be those who are doing this with great success,so he will be one of my mentors,BUT yes there it is the but. We loved the speaker We met at the Insiders Edge and our plan is to get this first deal done so we have the means to be mentored by him. The experience he brings is what we feel to be what we want for our success.
In addition to this here are some of the things we have done and are currently doing. We had a local sign company make some stickers for the cars that say We buy homes for cash,and also Stop foreclosure now. We had business cards printed 1000 for $65.00 . We made some hand written bandit signs in a variation of message suggestions that we found in our Profit From Real Estate Now books. We are calling on FSBO,s and screening them for deals. Have looked at several and found a couple that may work for us. We are looking at a duplex tonight that we want to do a lease option on and are hopeful of getting it under contract ASAP. We have Terms on one that are really great but haven't yet figured out how and who to market them to. We will I am sure because of our DG network here. We Found a link on this site about PML and followed it to our amazement the information found there proved to be invaluable. We tested the concept and to our amazement the first person we talked to understood what we were presenting to them and we now have $80,000.00 dollars to use for our investments. And we have many more prospective investors to show this to. Our Realtor is working on another deal for us That is an REO property with massive potential. I think this may be a joint venture for us with him. I will keep you posted on these deals as we get them under contract.What i do know is that just by taking action on the small amount of information we have so far an entire world of possibilities have opened up to us and we are looking forward to an amazing carer in REI.
We are CHP Investments Inc. Power packed investments.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

Today has been great. We had a meeting with our Realtor today about the duplex deal to work out the details of our lease option. He helped us structure the deal to present the numbers to the owners. We met with them and presented the offer and they accepted all the terms. Here are the details on this one.
3 bed 1.5 bath pr side
Currently rented at $800 pr side $1,600 pr month total
Agreed lease amount $1,400 pr month
Non refundable deposit $500
Purchase price $214,000
Comps $210,000
Current mortgage $115,000
Terms are three year L/O
Owner carry contract on $99,000 at %6.5
$300 pr month will go to purchase price when option is exercised
Cash flow + $200 pr month
The contract is being wrote now and should be final by 3-15

Something i forgot to mention in my first entry was that we purchased our training packages 2-1-11 and here we are 30 days later with the first deal almost done. We are loving this.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

Moving right along We have our bank account set up in the business name. The paperwork came from the attorney today so the fun task of learning all of the rules and regulations of doing business as a corporation and all of the corresponding paperwork that goes with it. It is really quite interesting.Lots of stuff to remember to do properly.
Our Realtor is sick today so the L/O contract is not done yet on the duplex. I am happy we were able to use him to structure this first deal, but i am looking forward to doing the contract on the next one myself.
We got the comps today on the additional lots that are with the REO deal we are pursuing and going with the most conservative ones they look great. I have a contractor coming to that house tomorrow to give a bid on the rehab work it needs. Depending on that i will know which way to go on that deal. I believe i will be able to structure the deal so i can pass it to my wholesale buyers, but i am considering the possibility of purchasing this one on a joint venture and collecting a much bigger end result. Cant wait to present the offer on this one and see where it goes.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

Thanks for the supporting comments YoungGun. I will keep you informed on the REO deal as it progresses.
Steve I am happy that you found something here helpful to you. I am just following what i believe Dean has done and the things he lays out for us to duplicate his success. I have found that by applying what i have learned and not holding back it works just like he said it would. To answer to your question I know that I would not have as well on my own on this deal because my realtor added the idea that we ask for the credit towards the down payment and that added over $10000 in our favor. Well worth involving him in this deal. Future deals however I will know this and ask for it on my own. Fyi he did this for $1000 on a promissory note to collect it on a future deal and also to deduct that from his commission on the sale of that property in the future. The way i see it he put $10000 in my pocket.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

Even though your realtor is, I am sure, very competent, all this ultimately falls on you and your partners. Here are some important points to make sure that they are covered in your contract.

1) In your L/O agreement does it stipulate that the seller/landlord will cover the insurance and taxes or will you have to cover them in addition to your monthly pmt? Make sure that is spelled out in the contract. HE should be responsible for them.

2) Since you will be responsible for all maintenance as a Buyer/Tenant another good clause to add is:

"Buyer/Tenant is responsible for all maintenance after the first sixty (60) days of the agreement. Seller/Landlord agrees to use their homeowner's insurance to cover any items/repairs/damage that would be covered under their policy (i.e. storm damage, fire, etc.) since tenant cannot utilize their insurance for these types of repairs. Seller/Landlord agrees to carry a Home Warranty Policy covering major items."

By having this clause if there is something major that needs to be repaired right now you are not walking into the problem blindly. You have a little buffer. Also you will only be able to have a renter's policy which will not cover major damage. Have it spelled out that he will maintain that coverage and he is responsible for those types of occurrences.

3) Do you have the option to assign it to another buyer if you choose written into the contract?

4) Be sure to file your Memorandum of Option at the court house. To be able to do this be sure there is no clause saying that nothing may be recorded against the title. That is not a good thing for you. Have a clause that stipulates:

RECORDING OF AGREEMENT: All parties agree that this agreement or a Memorandum of Option may be recorded.

If you need a copy of the Memorandum let me know. This also MUST be NOTARIZED when you both sign it.

Having this filed will put a cloud on the title so that he cannot sell it out from under you.

5) Another VERY important clause is an ENCUMBRANCE clause, so that he cannot take out any additional liens against the property.

6) Is the $500 non refundable deposit your option consideration fee? Will it also apply toward your down pmt when you purchase?

I don't see my last post here so I just want to say thank you Karen G. I have taken your advice and passed it to my realtor. Thanks for everything.
Well my realtor has the new contract i want to use and is working on it now.
We signed most of the corporate papers today and will meet with our attorney this week to finalize them.
REO property shaping up nicely looking like a great deal. We are just waiting on the bid from the contractor to come back to support our offer. We have a lot of great pictures of it that i feel will support our negotiations well. While I was there with the contractor yesterday i noticed another great point for our negotiation case. There are some dead standing fir trees by the house so I am going to get a bid for removing them. I did not notice them when we first viewed the house. I think they will be great leverage.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

Thanks again Karen I am currently working on getting all of those Or specific forms so that is in the works.
Something that slipped my mind was the advertising I have implemented. I went to a local sign shop here and they were very helpful. I got six stickers for the cars 7x18 Three say Stop foreclosure now with phone# below and three that say We buy homes for cash. They also gave us four bumper stickers at no additional charge. Those were $8 pr sign. We also got 10 white blank Corex sign stock $1 pr and 10 18x24 blank Corex $2 pr. We hand printed different messages on them we got from Deans book. The posts for them were $6 pr. The total for all of this was $102.If this is a better price than you can get just PM me and i will give you there contact info. It is a ma and paps operation but they are really great to work with and do a beautiful job.
In addition we bought a program that is a large group of investors that buy assignable contracts. They provide you with all of the info you need to find and present them to there investors. This was a one time fee of $500 Fills in a lot of gaps in this program. Well worth it. PM me and i'll give you the details.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

Jim thanks for checking on us. We are hoping to be on track for a great year of business.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

Things are moving along. I submitted the contract on the L/o yesterday and the owner was chomping at the bit to get it. He was taking it to his attorney for approval. He felt sure that we were going to have this done by the 15th.
The REO is taking shape also I got three bids to remove the dead trees and waiting for the contractors bid on the rehab work. I am going to the court house at 10:00 today to do the follow up work to make sure the other two lots are able to be built on.
9:00 appointment with the CPA to structure stock values and to address the loan values and interest rates for start up costs. As soon as we have this done we are ready to go back to the attorney to finish signing the corporate documents.
Very special thanks to Karen G for all of her help with the contract docs for the L/O. They were exceptional, and they reflect all the hard work she has done to get where she is.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

Carmelo hi and thanks for checking out this journal.First thing i would like to clarify I am not a Realtor. I do have a Realtor that i am working with and i found him by luck on an internet search. I was looking for a Realtor that I had tried to use on a home purchase about 6 years ago that did not work out. I saw his add on the internet search and asked him to show me this REO i was looking at. It just worked out from there as we talked at the showing that he was very like minded with us and the more we talked about what we were doing and where we were looking to go with REI it became a common interest that he saw the value of working with us as we learn this business for what he stands to receive along the way. I am slowly feeding him the ideas of how we work and what we do as I learn them and so far he is happy to work with us and try things that are new to him and also do what he knows works. I guess that it was mostly luck to find him and the fact that he was a investor and a broker before he became a Realtor is where his understanding of our situation comes from. As for Mats system I had not heard of it before now but I will find out what all of that is about, you have a new topic for me to study. Thank you.
Karen as for Deans tax lien/deed program I highly recommend it. I found it to be very informative and a great way to grow this business. Once you have the information on it you can decide how you want to work it into your REI. One thing I know is that the way I got it it came with a bonus I paid $1000 for the package and they gave me a certificate for $1000 off the purchase of one of there homes they have done all the due diligence on and have at the point of insurable title. No doubt a great starter deal.
The court records showed the REO I am looking at to be quite a mess. It has changed from something I had personal investing interest in to being something that i will wholesale if the numbers work. Essentially this only proves to be one more leverage point in negotiating with the bank on it. So I see where I will need to have a good number of exit strategies in place on this offer.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

Today has been great.I got all of the documents finished and shipped to the owner of the duplex for the L/O for final approval and signature. He and I feel like we are on track to have this deal complete by the fifteenth. Wahooo. The work and efforts of getting all of the documents necessary located, prepared, reformatted,and sent off has taken about twelve hours and a lot of brain racking, but I feel confident that I did a great job on the CYA part. This is in many thanks to Karen, my Realtor,and my computer guru friend Brad.
If you read this and want to save yourself a lot of work on the contracts for this type of deal feel free to PM me and I will be happy to help.
I rewarded myself this evening for all of this by taking a nice calming ride on my Harley. It was very relaxing.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

I feel like I am in the catch 22 on this deal because to put out mass offers I need to have a couple grand to put into a holding account so my offers will be looked at and the money is there when they are accepted. I have several older cars trucks and a beautiful horse trailer for sale which i have clear titles on but they are not selling. ARRRRGGG. How can I get the cash for this as a start up company with no credit and without putting myself in a position to loose my assets to a loan I cant make payments on?

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

I may have found a solution for the problem with my earnest money problem. I went riding with a buddy last night and he has been putting money aside to move on. I mentioned to him what we were doing and he offered let us use the money for our escrow account as it isn't making him anything in his savings account. Although it may only be a short term solution to the problem I feel like this could be the edge we need for now.

Today i have been reading a lot of journals on here and looking for directions to go forward with my plans for offers. I found many great ideas and one of the things we decided to do was make up some more bandit signs that say Have A House In Probate
Need Cash Offer Call
Phone#

Those are done and We are going to put them out today.In addition to this I gleaned a lot of information on how to handle these types of deals.Can't wait to see what happens next.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

Sounds like a great thing for you. I have lost my electricity due to storm damage and dont know when it will be fixed this is the third day it has been down.Internet is down as well. i will update you all on the deals soon.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

Wow the power is back on and the internet also. The contracts are all signed on the duplex L/O deal. We now control our first property with a positive cash flow of two hundred dollars pr month. Found another great REO to pursue. Three bed two bath house with huge shop on two acres. The great parts are it has not been listed and while we were looking at it a neighbor came over and wants to rent it. He has very stable income and can help with most of the work it needs. When i contacted the mortgage company about it they were ready for me to send them an offer on it right then. We will see how this one shapes up. The other REO we are working on has some strange deal with the tax lots going on but it still looks like it is worth working on. A lot of work at the county offices on this one.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

Wow, you are on your way. Way to go! Keep up the good work & let us know what happens with it.

James Cook wrote:

Wow the power is back on and the internet also. The contracts are all signed on the duplex L/O deal. We now control our first property with a positive cash flow of two hundred dollars pr month. Found another great REO to pursue. Three bed two bath house with huge shop on two acres. The great parts are it has not been listed and while we were looking at it a neighbor came over and wants to rent it. He has very stable income and can help with most of the work it needs. When i contacted the mortgage company about it they were ready for me to send them an offer on it right then. We will see how this one shapes up. The other REO we are working on has some strange deal with the tax lots going on but it still looks like it is worth working on. A lot of work at the county offices on this one.

Thanks for the encouraging words. The other great part about all of this is that I now have what I believe is a completely qualifying deal to get a refund on the money we invested in the DG Profit From Real Estate Training Course. $2000 coming back is a great deal to reinvest in our business with. All of this would not have happened this fast without it. Can't wait to get more deals that make the money I need to get more training from DG mentoring. Just seeing what this small amount of information has done for us definitely sets the belief in everything to come from the DG Network, training aids, and the people involved in this site.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

The moment of truths has arrived. We went to talk to the tenants at the duplex to get rental agreements in place and discovered that several things we were told by the owner does not jive. He told us that both of the tenants had used there deposits and last months rents for missed rent payments. after talking to them they feel strongly that the information is incorrect and they both gave there thirty day notice expecting to use there prepaid last months rent. With our agreement on the L/O our payments are to start on April 1st,and they are expecting to not pay for that months rent. I sent a letter to the owner requesting him to straighten out this misunderstanding with them and requested him to credit my first payment with there last months rent. Here is hoping this goes well. If all of this happens as stated we will only have one month to find new tenants for both units before having to pay the lease of $1400. I found a good property management company and they feel that the units will rent easy because they are in great shape. We are not in a financial position to cover those payments at this time, so we are just praying and believing that all of this will work out well. I knew going into this that we would hit bumps but i had hoped to be a little further ahead by the time they came. I am not giving up in spite of this bump I am only that much more motivated to find a way to get more deals done quickly.

__________________

CHP Investments Inc.
Power Packed Investments
James Cook & Tawnya Pete We are creating a future one deal at a time in the footprint of those who have gone before us by learning daily and taking bold action on what we know works by there example and success.

[favorite quote] The execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of a thought; transforming learning into behavior. author unknown.

not only progressing on a fast trac, and have a very pragmatic plan, but your approach to the let downs (the unexpected), is that of a much more experienced investor. I have no doubt you and your fiance/family will succeed. Your mentor on the LO's (Ms Karen) is as good as they come too. She has been a like saver for me! Keep your journal going for the rest of us, and best of luck on your future deals.

More DG Resources

DISCLAIMER: Our DG site is here to provide real estate education, training and social networking without the promise/claims of earnings or return on investment. We don't offer tax, accounting, financial or legal advice. Before doing any real estate transaction, you should consult your own accounting, legal and tax advisors to evaluate the risks, consequences and suitability of that transaction. This site accepts and contains posts from our students, readers and the general public that we do not modify but also do not verify. There are no guarantees implied except where specifically stated.